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Call for Papers: User Modelling for Accessibility (UM4A) Online Symposium 15 July 2013
Call for Papers: User Modeling for Accessibility
Online Symposium 15 July 2013 (DEPRECATED)
Please refer to the newer version.
The W3C WAI Research and Development Working Group (RDWG) invites you to contribute to the online symposium on User Modeling for Accessibility.
Symposium date: 15 July 2013
Abstract submission date: 31 May 2013 (Tentative)
Accepted papers will be published online in an attributable form as part of the symposium proceedings. Authors of accepted papers will be invited to participate in the symposium panel.
This symposium will bring together researchers, practitioners, and users with disabilities to explore new and on-going research and analyze past research experiences related to the design, creation, storage and usage of user modeling for accessibility.The goal is to discuss current approaches and applications of user modeling, e.g., declarative or ontology based, to evaluate their potential usage in accessibility of information systems and to promote publicly available user modeling technologies to be implemented at the core of mainstream information systems: user agents, web applications, authoring tools, etc. Based on these, we aim to initiate discussions and networking on future research and potential activities to encourage harmonization of user modeling approaches for accessibility. Furthermore issues like privacy and user’s control of her data should be discussed as privacy is a crucial aspect in user modeling.
See the mainUser Modeling for Accessibility Symposium page for Background, User Group, and Objectives.
Important Dates (Tentative)
- 06 June 2013: Deadline for paper submissions
- 19 June 2013: Author notifications
- 28 June 2013: Deadline for final HTML publication-ready paper submissions
- 01 July 2013: Registration opens
- 15 July 2013: Online symposium event, probably 15:00-17:00 UTC
Users: The primary focus is on users with disabilities. However, other users may also be addressed, such as older users with age-related accessibility needs
Tools: The main focus is on research and developed applications on adaptive, customizable and personalized systems allowing access for people with disabilities to the Web technologies and other ICT products and services employing user modeling technologies.
Technologies: The focus is on technologies for building user models, storing user profile information, exchange user profile infromation while also ensuring privacy of user profiles.
Standards: The focus is mainly on standards for user models describing accessibility related information. However, standards for user models in other domains that also cover accessibility issues is within the scope of the symopium
We invite researchers, practitioners, users, and others to submit research and position papers that address the following issues and challenges:
- User modeling technological challenges
- What are the most common formats (declarative, semantic web based) used for data storage of user profiles? (advantages/disadvantages)
- How interoperable are existing models and profiles for users with disabilities?
- What are the most common technologies for exchanging profile information between different models? (advantages/disadvantages)
- What are the most common techniques for calibration / validation?
- Gaps and challenges in user models for accessibility
- Which groups of users lack sufficient research on user needs so that user models can cover them?
- Which groups of user are already covered by existing models?
- Can we transfer knowledge on user needs in between groups?
- Can we transfer knowledge on user needs from user models in other domains?
- Standardization issues
- What standards/models exist for modeling users with disabilities?
- How do models/standards from other domains take care of accessibility issues?
- What can we be taught from user modeling standardization actions in other domains?
- What are the challenges in integrating accessibility information in those standards/models?
- Adoption issues
- What are the most common problems in adopting user modeling solutions for accessibility?
- What are the main privacy issues?
- What are the challenges in control of users over their profile information and exposure?
We particularly welcome submissions that describe:
- Empirical (lab-based or ethnographic) studies.
- Evaluations of system utilizing user models.
- Specific recommendations for design, development and usage of user models
Paper submission closed on 31 May 2013.
Papers should be extended abstracts of about 1,000 words. We encourage concise contributions that are scientifically sound with appropriate references. Papers should clearly explain the:
- Problem addressed
- Relevant background
- Approach - how was the problem addressed, what methodologies were used, what strategies were pursued to address the problem
- Challenges - major obstacles or difficulties found during the process or that could be encountered in the way forward
- Future research
Contributions will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee and each paper will get at least three independent reviews for criteria including relevance, clarity, soundness and power of the arguments, understanding of user needs, and contribution to knowledge about text customization for readability. Papers will be accepted based on this criteria and space availability.
Accepted papers will be published online in an attributable form as part of the symposium proceedings.
(For more information, see the FAQ sections RDWG Publications and RDWG Practice for Writership and Credits.)
The Symposium Report will be published under the W3C Document License. Paper authors shall grant W3C a perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, world-wide right and license to copy, publish, use, and modify the contribution and to distribute the contribution under a Berkley Shell Distribution - BSD License or one with more restrictive terms, as well as a right and license of the same scope to any derivative works prepared by the W3C and based on, or incorporating all or part of the contribution. The Contributor further agrees that any derivative works of this contribution prepared by the W3C shall be solely owned by the W3C.